Menzel, Jackson & Neuwirth Set for All-Star Cast of 'The 24 Hour Musicals' 4/13

On Monday, April 13, 2009, The 24 Hour Company will team with the Exchange to produce The 24 Hour Musicals at The Gramercy Theatre (127 East 23rd Street, between Park and Lexington Aves).

Presented in association with New York Magazine, four brand new musicals will be written, cast, rehearsed and performed in a single day, featuring an star-stdded line up of Broadway performers, composers, writers, directors, choreographers and musical directors. Creative director Ted Sperling (musical director of Light in the Piazza, South Pacific and Guys & Dolls), will lead some of the theatre's brightest talent from Broadway, film and television as they collaborate under one roof, in one day, to create original musical theatre.

To date, THE 24 HOUR MUSICALS participating artists include Rachel Dratch ("Saturday Night Live," Minsky's), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Spelling Bee, "The Class"), Rina Groff (Saved!), Cheyenne Jackson (All Shook Up, Xanadu), Idina Menzel (Wicked, Rent), Bebe Neuwirth (Chicago, Fosse, "Cheers"), Stephen Pasquale ("Rescue Me," Reasons to Be Pretty), Mo Rocca (Spelling Bee, "CBS Sunday Morning", NPR), Jonathan Marc Sherman (Things We Want, The Knickerbocker), Ted Sperling (Guys and Dolls, South Pacific), Tracie Thoms (Rent, "Cold Case"), Tamara Tunie ("Law and Order:", "NYPD Blue") and Alicia Witt (Vanilla Sky, "Law and Order"). Participating artists are subject to change. Additional artists to be announced.

The creative process for THE 24 HOUR MUSICALS begins Sunday April 12th at 9 p.m. when all participating artists will convene at the National Arts Club on Gramercy Park with a prop or costume piece to inspire the writers. After the company is briefed, the actors and directors will leave the writers to create the book, music and lyrics for their 15-minute musicals ...in just eight hours. At 7 a.m. Monday morning, the directors will return to read the completed musicals and finalize casting. An hour later, the actors will return to begin a twelve-hour rehearsal process. At 8:00 p.m., ink barely dry, the four new musicals will be performed for a live audience. Although the actors only have one day to memorize lines, lyrics and music, create characters and learn blocking, the musicals are performed without scripts in hand.

Following the performance, a VIP reception will take place at The National Arts Club.

Proceeds from The 24 Hour Musicals benefit the Exchange, a NYC not-for-profit that develops new theatre work through productions and its development center for innovative theatre companies and artists in the Catskills, the Orchard Project. Tickets for the event are $150 - $500.

The exclusive print media sponsor for The 24 Hour Musicals is New York Magazine.

The 24 Hour Company is a group of artists and producers that has mounted over 300 short plays since 1995 --all written, cast, rehearsed and performed in a single day. Paper Magazine wrote "the quality of the plays is remarkable," and the Village Voice adds, "Here was the energy missing from the Ludlow scene... theatricality as life, as subversion, even survival." The rotating cast and crew of The 24 Hour Plays have performed for sold-out houses at the American Airlines Theater, The Old Vic, Atlantic Theater, Minetta Lane Theater, 45 Bleecker Theater, the NY International Fringe Festival and other downtown venues in New York, as well as in Chicago, Los Angeles and London. Participants have included diverse talents from all levels- from Tony, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize winners to emerging talent and high school students. For more information, visit www.24hourplays.com/.

The Exchange both produces new and classic work and supports development in order to create the classics of the future. Unlike other theatre companies, the Exchange supports the work of a number of other artists and companies through its renowned Orchard Project retreat in upstate New York (www.orchardproject.com) and with initiatives such as the Kesselring Fellowship, a writing award it presents in partnership with the National Arts Club. In this season alone, projects and companies from the Orchard Project are being produced across the country and the world, from Broadway's 33 Variations to Off Broadway's Architecting and The Shipment to productions in Washington DC, Texas, London, Edinburgh and more.

For more information and ticket visit, www.exchangenyc.org/24.